Data center managers are responsible for managing the assets and layout of data centers. Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings are often one of the primary tools a data center manager may have available to manage the layout of the data center. A CAD drawing may be used to provide a two-dimensional plan view of assets in the data center. More detailed information about the assets may then be tracked in a separate tool, such as a spreadsheet. Information may also be stored in other locations, such as text files, databases, or even in the data center manager's head.
Because of the limited capabilities of the tools available, the management of data centers requires a great deal of manual effort by data center managers. The data center manager may need to use a combination of tools, personal knowledge and manual visualization of a data center to plan for changes to assets. Thus, even with small data centers, the management of a data center is a challenging process. The difficulties increase dramatically with larger and/or more complex data centers that may frequently add, move, or remove assets from a data center.